Originally Posted by Myrthos
The chapters are region based and thus you are locked out from regions you visited in a previous chapter.

Now we know

That sucks, indeed.

I was ready to keep an open mind, but region lockouts in a freeform game is a HUGE no-no. I had the same issue with The Witcher - but that was more of a story game, so it wasn't quite as bad.

But I dig the freeform aspect of Gothic too much to give Arcania a pass on this. It doesn't have to be just like Gothic, not at all, but if it's not even freeform - my interest is going to be very limited.

Delays late in the project schedule tend to be bad news — if something is supposed to be released next week and gets suddenly pushed to next year, it suggests that the people working on it (a) are deluding themselves about the real status of the project, or (b) aren't communicating with management. Both of these are bad signs, since they suggest significant technical or organizational problems that aren't well understood.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
Delays late in the project schedule tend to be bad news — if something is supposed to be released next week and gets suddenly pushed to next year, it suggests that the people working on it (a) are deluding themselves about the real status of the project, or (b) aren't communicating with management. Both of these are bad signs, since they suggest significant technical or organizational problems that aren't well understood.

I don't agree at all with this.

Not that I'm confident about Arcania, quite the opposite, but late delays are the rule rather than the exception in this industry. This isn't a week before release, and the delay was announced some time ago.

In general, it's not about self-delusion as much as making the final decision which requires (among other things) reaching an agreement between the developer and the publisher. We're witnessing this on a constant basis, and you need only look at something like Dragon Age to see a recent example of a late stage delay that hardly spells doom for said game.

Generally, the developers want to ensure their game is worthy of release, and the publisher wants to ensure it's the best business decision. Rarely is this a straightforward process - especially with new relationships. Late stage delays are VERY common, precisely because of this process.

But even so, look at Blizzard. They've delayed every single product they ever did, at least since Warcraft. Often, it has been close to their announced release dates. Most people agree Blizzard products are among the most polished games out there, so obviously a delay can be a good thing.

In any case, a delay for a product that's far from ready HAS to be good news if the alternative is on-time release. If you don't agree, then you're saying you prefer a deeply flawed game to a delayed one that has a chance of working as intended.